Recreational aquatic vehicles present several challenges to the designer. The cost of such vehicles must be extremely low in order to enable them to be commercial viable. In addition, recreational aquatic vehicles must be practically maintenance free and very simple to operate since they are used by a wide variety of people of different ages in often remote locations.
Preferably, recreational aquatic vehicles do not require external power and are powered either by peddling or rowing by the passengers. The present invention is directed specifically to a pedal powered aquatic vehicle. The muscles in the legs on a person are the largest muscle group and the human body is naturally inclined to provide maximum power through the action of the legs.
Conventional pedal powered aquatic vehicles utilize a pedal crank to drive a paddle wheel. Paddle wheels are very simple of construct and maintain, however, they are highly inefficient means of converting leg muscle power into forward propulsion of the aquatic vehicle. In addition, recreational paddle wheel aquatic vehicles generally are constructed with seats for two persons on either side of the paddle wheel. The paddle wheel boat is generally very wide and as result, such aquatic vehicles are difficult or awkward to operate if one person is seated in the vehicle. Paddle wheels can be mounted at the rear however the associated mechanism is generally considered to be excessively complex and heavy for recreational use.
Submerged propellers are more efficient than paddle wheels and are used almost exclusively in modern motorized nautical transport. To date however propellers have not been used for recreational non-motorized aquatic vehicles mainly since the associated mechanism is considered too complex and expensive for commercial viability.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a propeller driven pedal powered aquatic vehicle that can be produced inexpensively enough to render it practical for recreational use.
It is a further object of the invention to provide pedal powered drive means for an aquatic vehicle which can be inexpensively produced and are simple to maintain.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a pedal powered aquatic vehicle which can be ridden in a manner similar to a bicycle wherein the passenger straddles the vehicle and preferably experiences banking on a curved trajectory.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a propeller driven mechanism that is not subject to accidental damage during normally expected handling by unskilled operators.
Further objects of the invention will be apparent from review of the disclosure and description of the invention below.